<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>always by MaddieandChimney</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25820827">always</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney'>MaddieandChimney</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Maddie Buckley Week 2020 [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Implied Parental Neglect, Other, baby!buck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:55:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>919</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25820827</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Maddie Buckley Week Day 7 - Free Choice</p><p>. </p><p>Ten year old Maddie grins as she picks up her baby brother, promising him that she will always be there for him, no matter what.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evan "Buck" Buckley &amp; Maddie Buckley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Maddie Buckley Week 2020 [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861234</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>always</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Maddie giggles as she runs through the house, throwing her backpack on the ground before she skids to a stop right in front of her mother. “I’ll take him!” She doesn’t miss the look of relief on the woman’s face when she practically snatches the three year old boy from her lap and lets him rest on her hips. Neither Maddie or her mom voice how he stops crying the moment his sister is holding him, the red, teary face immediately replaced with one of joy when she bounces him gently and pulls as silly face.</p><p>She’s ten, she’s had years to grow accustomed to the way her mother is cold towards her two children, how she doesn’t do what ‘normal’ mothers do. Maddie no longer takes it personally when she doesn’t show up for a school event, she tries not to cry when no one comes to parent-teacher conferences or when dinner isn’t on the table when she gets in from school. Before Evan it was difficult, trying to get her parents attention to no avail (they were busy, <em>too </em>busy to deal with her and her ‘trivial’ problems) but since her brother had been born, she wasn’t lonely anymore.</p><p>With seven years between them, she could do everything for him that she wishes her parents had done for her. They’re not bad people – both her and Evan are well-dressed, cared for in every physical sense of the word and neither of them want for anything. But it doesn’t make them good parents; Maddie can’t remember the last time she had a hug from either adult, or if they ever asked her if she was okay, or how school was. She can’t remember their home as being particularly loving or friendly.</p><p>But she was the big sister, so she had decided it was her job to bring the fun into the Buckley household. Evan needed someone to play with him, he needed someone to hug him when he cried and tell him it was going to be okay instead of forcing him back up and telling him to “man up” – Maddie can still feel that undeniable anger that rushes through her when she thinks of her dad screaming that at the sobbing toddler when he’d grazed his knee. It was <em>her</em> job to kiss his wounds all better and tuck him into bed every night.</p><p>She knew things about her brother that neither of her parents were able to find out and whilst Maddie had once thought it was because they were simply too busy, too important to have to deal with minor things such as a bedtime story, at ten years old, she’s starting to realise it’s mostly disinterest. It’s exactly what her Aunt had once told her (after a few too many wines at Evan’s christening) the year before – people just got married and they had kids and those kids would go on to continue the family legacy. She had been born because her parents knew everyone was expecting them to have a child together, Evan had been born because her father insisted on having a Buckley man to carry on the family business.</p><p>“Did you have a good day?” She asks, nodding her head as the babbling from her baby brother ensues and she pretends as though everything he is saying is making complete sense to her. She places him down on the living room floor before she sits next across from him, a huge grin on her face when she runs her fingers over the birth mark above his eye. Their mom hated it, she often commented that it wasn’t aligned with the rest of his face, that it made him look ugly. Maddie completely disagreed, the mark was adorable, just as his rosy red, chubby cheeks were, how his toothy grin made any stranger in the street smile right back at him with a series of coos quickly following.</p><p>Her hands move to both of his when he stands up, scrunching her nose up, “Maddie ‘kay?” The young girl nods her head quickly, letting go of his hands to ruffle his blonde hair.</p><p>“Maddie’s okay.” She confirms, nodding her head, “Is Evan okay?” He nods right back at her, easily sliding himself into her lap, thumb in his mouth when he snuggles into her. Maddie prides herself on being her brother’s person, she’d promised herself when she held him in her arms for the first time that she would do <em>anything</em> to protect him. She was his big sister and no one else was going to do it for him – if the problem couldn’t be solved by money, neither of their parents would know what to do.</p><p>She does what she always does, wrapping both her arms around him as she runs through her school day, filling her words with as much excitement as she can muster. She still wishes, just a little, that her mother would have asked instead of slinking back to her office in the seconds after Maddie had taken Evan from her. But at least she’s not alone, at least he kind of understands what she’s talking about and at least he’s listening. And even if he’s not, she knows that when he’s a little older, he’ll know he has someone at home willing to listen all about his day. Even if all he’s going to do is colour in pictures and read all the books she had once read in school.</p><p>He’ll have someone, he’ll always have her.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>